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Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Presidential Candidates - #3 Jeb Bush

September 22nd we went to Gravy's Diner in Cedar Falls, Iowa for a Meet 'n Greet with Governor Jeb Bush.  We arrived just as the last booth was being filled, and soon the entire front room of the restaurant was crowded with chairs down the aisles.  After all the chairs were filled, more people stood.  
I had the opportunity of seeing President George W. Bush at a campaign rally in 2003 (from a distance--binoculars would have helped), so I was excited to meet his brother.  Governor Jeb Bush arrived exactly 10 minutes late, and was greeted with cheering and enthusiasm.  After he was introduced by a campaign worker, he began his speech.

Miscellaneous Facts:  Jeb Bush is 62 years old.  He's the son of President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush, and a younger brother of President George W. Bush.  He's a Roman Catholic, has been married to Columba Bush since 1974, has three children, and is 6 feet 3 inches tall.
Jeb Bush Timeline
Created with www.readwritethink.org's  Timeline Generator.  Click to enlarge.
Bush's Speech
Governor Bush began his speech by saying he intends to be a disrupter in Washington D.C.  He has experience, cut taxes as governor, and in a swing state proportionately reduced the size of government by 11% during his tenure.  He became known as the "Veto Corleone," vetoing 2500 separate line items in the Florida budget.  

When he became governor, Florida was ranked 50th out of all 50 states in education.  Bush realized something was wrong with the system, so under his leadership, Florida created the first, second, and third voucher programs in the nation.  He stopped social promotion where students were promoted regardless of whether they could pass the grade, and turned the system upside down.  The average graduation rate went up every year when parents were empowered to make choices in their children's education.

Bush supports the Balanced Budget Amendment, and believes a line-item veto should be established on the federal level.  There should be lobbying reform and transparency, with a 6-year ban on elected officials lobbying.

More power should be given to the states, and a regulatory budget should be instituted.  

America needs to lead the world, not be nice to our enemies and ignore our friends.  The Iran deal was very bad. We need to back Israel and our allies.  We must have a strong military, so our enemies will fear us, and we can achieve peace through strength.  Our word must be our bond.  We need to "Speak quietly and carry a big stick."  

Governor Bush may not be the loudest voice on the stage--though he hopes the election has been entertaining for all of us.  But his campaign, he says, is not about him; it's about families, veterans and those serving in our armed force, and ordinary every-day Americans.
 Townhall Questions
Question about the U.N.
A: Bush does not believe the U.S. should give up sovereignty to the United Nations.  He was against the Iranian deal, and thinks it is terrible.  We need to confront Iran and support Israel.

Q: Will you support Breast Cancer Deadline 2020?
A:  "I've already endorsed it."  The federal government should be a partner in research to end breast cancer. We're on the verge of finding a cure.

Question about Education.
A: The federal government should play no role in curriculum creation or standards.  The federal government should give the states money for education, but the states should have flexibility.  There should be no strings attached.  Higher education should be reformed, and the federal government should be a partner in lowering costs.  

Q: ISIS is a problem.  How can we help our allies?  Do we need to go in?
A:  Absolutely.  We're a part of this mess.  Obama made a commitment and then backed away.  We need to have a strategy and unite the world to take out ISIS and Assad.  It will be a hard struggle.  We can't just do it with air strikes.  We need to be vigilant.  It's good the Patriot Act was modernized, but we need it for our national defense, and should not have allowed it to expire.  We need to embed trainers, and we need our military commanders to be people who know about the military, not lawyers.  We also need to get our allies in the Middle East working with us.

Q: As president, would you help our cause to promote childhood education through the world?
A:  I will consider it, but I'm not making a commitment.  

Q:  Trump says we should build a wall.  What do you think?  (This question was asked in Spanish.  Governor Bush interpreted the question to everyone else, and then answered in English.)
A:  I don't think it's feasible.  It would be very expensive.  A wall can be  part of the strategy at some of the most strategic places, but 40% of illegal immigrants are people who have come legally and overstayed their visas.  It's un-American to just send people back.  Non-criminal illegal immigrants should have to pay a fine, learn English, and then they should be able to get legal residence, not citizenship.
Further Resources:  Visit Governor Bush's website to learn more about him and read his stance on the important issues.  You can also read about him on Wikipedia.  His two books, Profiles in Character and Immigration Wars, are available on Amazon.

My remarks:  Gravy's Diner was *crowded.*  I wish the event had been held somewhere with a little more room.  Governor Jeb Bush basically sounded like he would be another President Bush.

Disclaimer: Candidates' speeches are reconstructed from my imperfect notes.  If you notice any mistakes, just let me know.  I would not intentionally misrepresent anyone's position.  I am not endorsing any candidate or candidate's position at this time, and no candidate has endorsed me.  And yes, I do realize that often speeches are to some extent propaganda, but it's interesting to me to see the points candidates consider as most important.
For my personal political views, please see this article.

16 comments:

  1. interesting post and great photo. Love from Europe

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  2. Thanks for the info Bethany! I agree, Governor Bush sounds like a Bush! I also think it's great that you've gotten pictures with the candidates. If one of the wins it will be an interesting memory!

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    1. Indeed! We are trying to see all the candidates to be sure we see the winner. Wouldn't it be awful if we missed only one candidate, and then he or she ended up as President?

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  3. Well, look at you standing there with Jeb Bush! Thanks for all of the great info!

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  4. Your thoughts are mine exactly, Bethany. I think he would be a lot like his brother. Glad you had the opportunity to see him. xo Diana

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    1. I was glad I had the opportunity as well. Thanks for stopping by!

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  5. As I mentioned before I think Jeb is shocked he's currently 5th at 7.1% but unlike the other two you mentioned already, I can see Jeb staying until the very end. I know the GOP is really hoping for him or Rubio to win the nomination. They fear Trump because they can't win without some of the Latino vote, and only a small percentage of Latinos are going to vote for Trump.

    I like a lot of Jeb's immigration stance, especially on the wall thing. Considering the massive amount of land to cover, it's expensive to have even a simple chain linked fence let alone a super tall cement wall. I laughed really hard when Trump said he'd make Mexico pay for it. How?


    I'm surprised he talked about getting rid of Assad. His brother got rid of Saddam and look what happened there. We got rid of the Soviets in Afghanistan and looked what happened there. These terrible dictators are certainly a necessary evil in that part of the world. It's a shame to say, but it is true.

    As far as the Iran Deal, I think Republicans oppose most of it because it benefits Iran in some ways (the deal is a compromise after all) as it gets rid of the economic sanctions in exchange for limiting their nuclear power only for energy not a weapon. The deal makes it harder for Iran to get a nuke, not the other way around. If the deal breaks, they just have a terrible economy with nobody who can tell them they can't have a nuke. Look at North Korea, they have people who can't even eat on a constant basis. But they sure can build a military that S. Korea is afraid of.

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    1. Trump is very entertaining...Without him the race would relatively be quite boring.

      I always wondered how Trump planned to get Mexico to pay for his "huge, beautiful wall" as well. When I went to hear him speak, he said that we were already giving Mexico x amount of money (can't remember off the top of my head, but many times more than what he predicts the wall will cost), so that's how/why Mexico will build the wall.

      I can't say I know what's best for the Middle East...but U.S. attempts to institute our western way of civilization/democracy seem to not work so well, and have resulted in many American lives lost. I wish we could just stay out of that region. (If Russia wants it back, good riddance imo...as long as we can become energy independent, so we don't need the oil there). Assad's reign, though bad, could not have been worse than the awful turmoil, refugee crisis, and rise of ISIS we see today. It's hard for me to understand how/why we'd want to go into Syria and fight both Assad and ISIS...what kind of war is that, fighting both sides? Eh, well, some things may just be beyond me...

      I have heard pretty bad things about the Iran deal.

      As for the rulers of North Korea, I think they don't have their priorities straight. I question the sanity of all dictators and extremist groups who want to fight and destroy. It's so much more advantageous to enjoy peace, trade with other nations, and work toward economic prosperity.

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  6. The debate about how immigration should be handled prompts me to go hunting to better understand how quotas ever were established in the first place...I can imagine that Native Americans must wish that none of their ancestors had accepted those from foreign soil.

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    1. I'm sure accepting European settlers was a decision they regretted.

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  7. Hi Bethany, Another fine report, this time on Jeb Bush. I would like to ask you what you think about this exchange: "Q: ISIS is a problem. How can we help our allies? Do we need to go in? A: Absolutely. We're a part of this mess. Obama made a commitment and then backed away. We need to have a strategy and unite the world to take out ISIS and Assad." While I wholeheartedly agree that ISIS is a problem, why do you think Bush had to include the political barb that Obama backed away from a commitment? In the opposite vein, couldn't he have said, **We wouldn't be in this mess if my brother hadn't declared war in Iraq to take out Saddam Hussein.** Were you in favor of the War in Iraq? My point being, we do have a mess going on other there now and yet the history of the Bush family is to get us more tangled up than peaceful. What do you think?

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    1. As for using political barbs about Obama backing away from his red line...that's what a lot of the candidates are doing. Bush isn't the only one; it's a popular campaign line.

      I was in favor of the Iraq war. Back when George W. Bush was president I thought he was wonderful, and just about everything he did was awesome. I was young (8 years old when the war in Iraq started). The political views I now hold as an adult did not develop until I was 17, in 2011. Now I think the Iraq war was a bad idea, and I would like to avoid further entanglement in the Middle East. I would be very wary of voting for anyone who wants troops on the ground in the Middle East.

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  8. I feel better about Jeb Bush than I did before, thanks to your post. Frankly, he frightened me at first because I have concerns about that whole Yale Brotherhood thing and family-oriented Rise to Power (ie Kennedy, Clinton, Bush) of the moneyed elite. Senior Bush's possible shady 60s CIA days disturb me. I loved him in his first tenure of office, but in the second term became disgusted with him and disappointed. Of course, children are not their parents. But....it's hard to know people REALLY just based on their public persona and campaign speeches. Maybe he is a GREAT guy. I hope so!

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    1. Ah, I'm not sure I follow whom you were disappointed in. It appears you're talking about the father, George H.W. Bush, to start with as the CIA director. But then he only had one term, and his son George W. Bush had 2 terms.

      To me it would be very unexciting to have another Bush vs. Clinton election. Most of the candidates (including Bush) seem to be nice people if you get to meet them. Many of the candidates I'd feel comfortable with inviting over for dinner and chatting with if they weren't so famous; but just because a person is likeable doesn't necessarily make a person a good President. I very much hope whomever we get as the Republican nominee will be a great man or woman!

      Thank you, Marie, for your very thoughtful comments; I enjoy reading them!

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